Because of credit card and retailer rewards programs, consumers have become accustomed to receiving incentives for engaging in behavior desired by the incentive provider. In those programs, the consumer typically receives an incentive for engaging in behavior consistent with interests that the consumer already possesses. The incentive simply makes the consumer more receptive to a specific brand or certain behavior.
Advertisers seek to make consumers more receptive to advertising content. Recently, advertisements have become less effective. The proliferation of advertisements in conjunction with technologies that enable consumers to avoid the advertisements contributes to this phenomenon. For example, consumers use the remote control to change channels during commercials on live television, fast forward through commercials when a show is recorded and use pop-up blockers while surfing the Internet. Even when consumers cannot avoid advertisements, they ignore those that are not relevant or interesting to them. On the other hand, advertisements can be effective when they reach consumers who are interested in the content. Advertisers would also like more granular metrics concerning which consumers are interested in particular content.